Smith v. Dixon
| Citation | 766 F. Supp. 1370 |
| Decision Date | 10 June 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-337-HC.,88-337-HC. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina |
| Parties | Kermit SMITH, Jr., Petitioner, v. Gary DIXON, Warden, Central Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, Respondent. |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
C. Frank Goldsmith, Jr., Marion, N.C., Melinda Lawrence, Raleigh, N.C., for petitioner.
Richard N. League, Joan H. Byers, Sp. Deputy Attys. Gen., Barry S. McNeill, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, N.C., for respondent.
This matter is before the court on Kermit Smith's habeas corpus petition filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1990). Both parties have briefed the petition and have filed supplemental briefs on various issues which have become relevant during its pendency. The matter is now ripe for ruling.
A full recital of the underlying facts can be located in the North Carolina Supreme Court's opinion on petitioner's direct appeal, State v. Smith, 305 N.C. 691, 292 S.E.2d 264, cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1056, 103 S.Ct. 474, 74 L.Ed.2d 622 (1982). The following synopsis derives from that opinion. On 3 December 1980, following a college basketball game at which they were cheerleaders, three black females—Whelette Collins, Dawn Killen, and Yolanda Woods—were preparing to depart from the parking lot in Collins' car when petitioner, a twenty-three-year-old white male, suddenly appeared and asked for a ride to the highway. The women refused. Petitioner then brandished what appeared to be a pistol and demanded entrance into the vehicle. He got into the rear seat, behind Collins, and directed her to drive. Id. at 694, 292 S.E.2d at 267.
They eventually arrived at petitioner's car which was parked in some woods near the campus. Petitioner took the keys to Collins' car and asked the women if they had any money. Collins told him that she had "a little bit." Petitioner ordered the women out of the car and Collins gave petitioner the $7.00 she had. He then forced Killen and Woods to get into the trunk of his car and made Collins lie face down on the back seat. He proceeded to drive the women to a quarry pit in a heavily wooded area. At some point he let Killen and Woods out of the trunk. He told them that they would have to wait in this deserted spot for about three hours until his friend came with another car. Id. at 695, 292 S.E.2d at 267. Petitioner told the women that his friend would kill them if he discovered that petitioner had taken so many hostages. He also warned the women that he would have to hurt them if they did not listen to him.
Petitioner eventually forced Killen and Woods back into the trunk of his car and shut it. They could overhear him talking to Collins. They eventually heard a scuffle and heard Collins scream. Then they heard gunshots. About an hour and a half later, Killen and Woods heard someone crying. Collins knocked on the trunk and asked her friends how they were. They in turn asked how she was. She replied that she was not all right. She asked petitioner why he had done "this" to her. He replied, "you don't understand my motivation." Collins complained about being cold and asked petitioner to open the trunk to retrieve a blanket. He refused her request responding "your friends would get upset if they saw you standing here without any clothes on." He then told Collins, "I can put you out of your misery." He later told her that they would go back to where he had thrown her clothes.
For over an hour Killen and Woods heard nothing. Id. at 696, 292 S.E.2d at 268. Eventually petitioner reappeared and opened the trunk. The two women asked where Collins was. Petitioner replied that she had stopped at the quarry to use the bathroom. The women called for her but received no reply. Shortly thereafter, Killen and Woods were able to attack petitioner with a straight pin and a lug wrench they had found in the trunk and they escaped. They hid in some underbrush until daylight. As they waited they heard a splash as if something had been thrown into water. At daybreak, the two women left the woods and contacted law enforcement officials who returned with them to the scene. Petitioner was attempting to leave the area when they arrived. Id. at 697, 292 S.E.2d at 268. He was bloody, his clothes were wet, water was running off his hair, and he was barefoot. He was quickly apprehended and arrested.
Officers found Collins' clothes, petitioner's wet and bloody underwear, and two cement blocks with blood, hair, and skin on them. Collins' nude body was found in a shallow pond. Her feet were jammed into a cement block. Live sperm were in her vaginal area, there were numerous lacerations and bruises on her head and body, and several of her ribs were fractured. Her skull was fractured in several places due to the force of a blunt trauma to her head. Petitioner was advised of his constitutional rights, but blurted out
Petitioner was charged by indictment with first-degree murder, first-degree rape, and armed robbery. He offered no evidence to contest his guilt. On 30 April 1981, the jury found petitioner guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree rape, and common-law robbery. The trial then proceeded to the sentencing phase pursuant to N.C.Gen.Stat. § 15A-2000 (1988). The state relied on evidence introduced during the guilt phase. Petitioner called four witnesses, including his father and two psychiatrists. Both psychiatrists testified that petitioner was under the influence of an emotional disturbance at the time of the murder and that his capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law was impaired.
The trial judge submitted the following issues to the jury, which were answered as is indicated:
Based on the jury's findings, the trial judge sentenced petitioner to death.
Petitioner appealed his convictions and sentence to the North Carolina Supreme Court, which unanimously affirmed the convictions, and affirmed the death sentence with one dissenting vote. State v. Smith, 305 N.C. 691, 292 S.E.2d 264 (1982). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Smith v. North Carolina, 459 U.S. 1056, 103 S.Ct. 474, 74 L.Ed.2d 622 (1982). Petitioner then filed a motion for appropriate relief pursuant to N.C.Gen. Stat. § 15A-1415 (1988) in the superior court of Halifax County. The motion was summarily denied with respect to all claims except ineffective assistance of counsel, which, following an evidentiary hearing, was also denied. The North Carolina Supreme Court denied certiorari, State v. Smith, 333 S.E.2d 495 (1985), as did the United States Supreme Court, Smith v. North Carolina, 474 U.S. 1026, 106 S.Ct. 582, 88 L.Ed.2d 565 (1985).
On 30 January 1986, petitioner filed a renewed petition for certiorari and alternative motion to reconsider denial of certiorari with the state supreme court in light of a recent decision by that court. The court dismissed the petition, but granted petitioner permission to file a new motion for appropriate relief, which he subsequently did. At the state's request, an evidentiary hearing was held, and the motion was denied. The North Carolina Supreme Court denied certiorari, State v. Smith, 364 S.E.2d 668 (1988), as did the United States Supreme Court, Smith v. North Carolina, 485 U.S. 1030, 108 S.Ct. 1589, 99 L.Ed.2d 903 (1988).
Petitioner filed the instant petition on 20 May 1988 and, following extensive briefing by the parties, oral argument was held on 7 June 1989. On 11 October 1989, the court stayed the proceedings pending a decision by the United States Supreme Court in McKoy v. North Carolina, 494 U.S. 433, 110 S.Ct. 1227, 108 L.Ed.2d 369 (1990); the Court announced its ruling in that case on 5 March 1990. Following the McKoy decision, this court permitted both parties to submit supplemental briefs addressing the application of McKoy to the instant petition. On 23 April 1990, petitioner moved to defer decision on the habeas action pending decisions by the North Carolina Supreme Court on remand...
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